Season 2 Chapter 1: Mortimer Raynold

Mortimer Raynold

As the morning sun rises, the city of Stimmigen starts to come to life slowly but vibrantly, many of the inhabitants are seeking to trade with travelers who pass over the river Ober on the way north to Ubersreik. Known for the lush orchards of apples, however the best apple the Ernwald grows only in this region. Mortimer Raynold a young human male has grown up here all his life of 18 years, he likes to travel between Stimmigen and Ubersreik finding ways to earn a living just about any way he can. He used to be a junior watch guard in town, he wanted to do some good to keep his hometown safer, if possible, his past however was not a good one, he had a run in very often with a guard named Dorian who disliked Mortimer from the start. Many times, on his shifts Dorian would sabotage what Mortimer was doing, either report in a different story of what happened to make it seem like Mortimer was dishonest or to seem like he was incompetent. Mortimer eventually left his post as a junior guard not to return, he had a close friend Hyza, a young girl who also shared the same passion as Mortimer in doing good for the town, she was set up by Dorian when the outskirts of town had an incident with a rogue Skaven (Rat Folk) who was causing panic, Dorian failed to confront the Skaven in a heated confrontation which Hyza also was a part of. Dorian bailed leaving Hyza who was not well equipped to handle the Skaven to defend herself, she was put into a sleep that she took months to awaken from after the battle which was short and had the local farmers not rush together out there, she could have died. Mortimer blames him as Hyza tried telling the story, but the senior guard’s word was the side the local council took, not hers but Mortimer believes Hyza was set up. Mortimer is always on the lookout for Dorian so that if someday he can enact revenge he will, he decided to gather himself together and become more of a Brigand, a local outlaw if you will, now he is looking to do work but on his own terms.

Lewella

On this bright early morning Mortimer makes his way towards the market section of town to visit a bakery run by a female Halfling named Lewella, this morning was stormy with high winds, but he still managed to safely make it to the shop without incident. Lewella is preparing for next month's Pie Week, a festival that celebrates amazing baked goods, especially the ones made with the Ernwald apple. She is a little older halfling, born and raised here also with a soft spot for Mortimer who has always treated her kindly. She needs a fairly rare herb that is found in the Reikwald Forest that she likes to use for the special dishes for Pie Week, she asks Mortimer if he can help forage the woods to get some for her and she can pay him a nice bunch of brass pennies, Mortimer is looking for work now more than ever, he wants to get himself a nice bow from the local shop so he agrees to assist her in this endeavor. The local shop in town that has many fine weapons and armor is owned by a high Elf named Riogna, she was a veteran watch guard for the town and now runs this shop here in Stimmigen. She is tall and very majestic looking with long silver hair, soft features, however deep inside she is a fierce warrior. Mortimer decides to stop by before heading out to the woods for the herb quest just to peek at the bows he would like to someday acquire, many are quite fine however the cost for most are 4 gold crowns, he peeks in his pouch at the 4 brass pennies he has knowing he has a way to go. He asks to see the bow and tries his charming approach on Riogna however she is not very kind in her response, she does not trust him and gets very worried that Mortimer is up to no good she calls for the watch, in a panic Mortimer apologizes and runs out the door. He manages to avoid the watch which also could include Dorian in that bunch however manages in this wind and rain to avoid any contact at this time, he thinks to himself that he needs to gain riches and make a better name for himself here.

Riogna

Later that afternoon Mortimer goes to the local tavern called the Rose and Crown Inn to get a drink and some later lunch grub, he usually looks at the posts on the board to see if anything catches his eye. This board could have a variety of options to choose from, local farmers needing assistance to wanted posters to any odd job you can think of, he sees one that catches his eye. An advisor to the town council is missing, her name is Iliana a human female with long black hair, slightly older and known commonly to have a very paranoid behavior, she is not well liked by some locally, but Mortimer decides to see if he can find her and gain some good grace with the council. Sitting next to a few very drunk halflings he manages to speak with them about the upcoming Pie Week which they believe is already here in their drunken state, a few good laughs ensue as Mortimer grows tired later in the day, he heads back to Lewella's place, she has rooms he can use if he cannot pay for one at the Inn.

Fillgrin

The next morning Mortimer is up bright and early to get going for his trek to the woods for the search for the herbs Lewella wants him to gather, he hopes it is a short day and successful, with only a light rain falling it's cool in this summer season today. As he walks around town to start heading to the outskirts, he notices the local watch and his old colleague Dorian is on duty, this is not good timing, so Mortimer tries to dodge behind some crates in a nearby store which fall over and Dorian sees him! Dorian smirks, he is thinking he might be able to con the store owner to thinking Mortimer is stealing, however Mortimer runs quickly away headed towards the northeast section of town, the 2 men dodge and weave around the local buildings in the nationhood however eventually Mortimer dives past a caravan cart to hide and avoid any confrontation with Dorian. As he stands back up slightly muddy the driver looks over at him to ask if he is ok, he does apologize for diving nearby, but he is ok but does need a ride. The driver is Fillgrin, a male halfling who tends to be a little possessive of the goods he has however also is very illiterate so he tends not to be as organized as he should. He asks if the intent is to steal his goods, Mortimer assures him that is not it at all and Fillgrin looks at him a few moments, then nods to offer his ride, he does ask where he is headed. Mortimer asks about the rare herbs for the apple baked goods, Fillgrin is familiar with some fields that might have some he passed a few weeks ago so he climbs aboard the cart to make his way into the Reikwald Forest area northeast of Stimmigen.

Light rain continues to fall which makes the roads a lot less simple to travel, however one area has blocked the path so with Mortimers skill in outdoor survival he manages to find a much clearer path for Fillgrin who is happy to have help during this trip. Mortimer needs about 6 bunches of this herb for Lewella, the fields seem endless however Fillgrin point towards a field he feels might have what they need, luckily, he does find a couple bushels of the herbs, many varieties however they tend to grow in batches together, this offers a unique blend that pairs well with apples. This area also has some old trees that have fallen and are rotted considerably, as they move closer to more fields the ground becomes very unstable, the cart is sinking in the mud, which is now heavily taxing the horse, this area also has some very toxic plants which now have melded with the soil and present a possible danger to the two men. Mortimer warns Fillgrin that he sees parts of his boots bubbling, this cannot be good, with great efforts Mortimer works together with Fillgrin to power out of the sinking field and back to safer ground. The two decide to head farther in a different direction to look for more fields; they see a lot of very old stone structures.

They now have come across some old ruins, possibly of a church or a small set of homes way back in older times, there are no real marks or glyphs to establish what this was, however as they look around, they then realize they are not alone. Skulking around these ruins is a giant rat, its nasty teeth dripping with saliva and now it looks at them as its next meal. Mortimer wields a dagger which he has had since childhood, so he is comfortable with using this, Fillgrin is terrified and is hovering in the cart to avoid this creature, Mortimer decides he needs to engage this and take it down before they are both killed, he does not get the jump on it as it saw them before they saw it. The battle ensues as both the giant rat and Mortimer lash out with weapon and teeth back and forth, a few times the leather jerkin saves Mortimer from being sliced open by claws or teeth. Suddenly he sees an opening, after a big lunge by the animal he seized the opportunity to plunge the dagger deep into the belly of the beast, with a loud squeal the beast quivers as the blood rushes out of its gaping wound, Mortimers eyes widen as he sees the inner guts fly out of the rat, it succumbs to thew wound quickly. Fillgrin looks on in awe, he was not sure they would make it out of this, hopefully there are not more of these, so they decide to head back a different way when they hear a noise that catches their attention.

Iliana Forester

Behind one for the ruined walls crawls a figure covered in mud, the long stringing hair dragged in mud droops down across the persons face, moaning as if in pain a female voice cries out half screaming and horse "Help!". Mortimer runs over to the woman, he asks if she is hurt, she replies not badly but just so tired and run down, he asks her whop she is and she replies "Iliana Forester." Mortimer cannot believe his ears, really??! This is the woman who is missing and she's right here in the woods? She describes a female human with dirty blond hair and blue eyes who captured her, she managed to break free of the leg bonds and ran a while to try to find town, she is drained from being a captive. Mortimer asks what they wanted, he also tells her he saw the reward on the board at the Rose and Crown Inn, so he offers to bring her back. Mortimer explains as he frees her from the bonds that this woman might be out looking so, we need to be careful to get you back safely to the council building, also in the back of his mind if the watch see him bring her back they might assume he captured her so they need a plan. Iliana explains that many times she was forced to sign documents that are being used to drain town resources for things she is unsure of but knows are not town sanctioned normally, hopefully she can clear some issues up when she returns safely. After a little while they climb into the caravan and slowly make their way towards the edge of the town, Mortimer suggests if we make it close to the edge of town we can look for a watch person or anyone one reputable in town that she can approach, if she explains how she was saved then maybe the council with reward him and he won't have to risk the watch guard assuming the worst, Iliana agrees, she knows she is not the most liked in town but if she can get back to the council she can work to have things fixed, Mortimer waits on the outskirts for Iliana to contact him soon. Now he waits to see if the gods are looking down on him in favor or not, hard to be patient but he thanks Fillgrin and finds a small tavern to lay low for now.

Dorian

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